"latecomers" poems
*got.an.appointment.to.keep
can’t.be.late.at.all
got.an.appointment.to.keep*
Cycling hard in the taciturn rain
In the English countryside
Feeding chunks rassis to hissing Eton-swans
Pitch-black hot tar inside
Running relentless along the vacuous side-halls
Carrying mercy on three-legged cur
Crying for Odin . . . leaving soon
Won’t make it down that clockwork-stairs
And can’t show up late for its own demise-appointment
*taking.flight.to.a.never.portion
of
the.ever.furious.wanderer
(no latecomers allowed)
to.keep.that.appointment
to.never.go
crying.for.Odin*
s t 27 aug
Aug 27, 2013
Aug 27, 2013 at 3:36 PM UTC
THE HALL WAS PACKED WITH EVERYONE DOING THEIR DUTY,
PEOPLE FIDGETING, WIPING GRIT FROM THEIR EYES,
CHILDREN RESTLESS, LATECOMERS FINDING A SEAT,
THE PRIEST DRONED ON, A COUGH WAS INDISCREET;
A STRANGER DRESSED IN WHITE WALKED THE AISLE,
LIKE A PRISONER MOVING ALONG THE GREEN MILE,
HE APPROACHED THE ROSTRUM AND TURNED AROUND,
ALL OF A SUDDEN THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO SOUND,
THE MINISTER CONTINUED AS THO' PART OF A PLAY,
HE SAID THAT WE MUST LEAD OUR LIVES RESPONSIBLY,
LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR, DO AS YOU WOULD DO UNTO OTHERS,
THE MAN IN WHITE HAD THE WORLD'S PROBLEMS ON HIS SHOULDERS,
WE KNEW THEN THAT WE MUST DO WHAT THE SERMON HAD TOLD US.
Mar 12, 2016
Mar 12, 2016 at 1:44 PM UTC
🚪
Tell those latecomers,
they are too late.
No longer welcome.
The longing that once burned for them,
now sleeps in ashes they cannot revive.
Even beauty,
once able to undo me,
now passes by,
unseen,
untouched.
For what fails to arrive when it’s needed,
doesn’t arrive at all.
Excessive waiting takes its toll,
and the loss is permanent.
⌛️
Jun 5, 2025
Jun 5, 2025 at 11:44 AM UTC
snow-windy.
ice in raindrops.
hefty ventures.
brookner, anita:
latecomers '89.
thomasses,
just too many.
mind-plays.
churning hopes.
wrestle.
some way out.
'i did love her then!'
mind-quake.
regroup.
by-gones.
grave-yard stuff.
'oh, now: you & i.'
-by
Hakim H. Kassim.
(d. August, 2016)
Sep 19, 2016
Sep 19, 2016 at 12:59 PM UTC